Mum of toddler who fell to death complained 'many times' about flat window
A mum who relived the moment she saw her baby on the floor after he fell from their seventh-floor flat, told an inquest into his death she had complained about their windows many times to the council.
Exodus Eyob, who was almost two, fell from a high-rise tower in Saville Green, Leeds, after going into his older sister Reem Semere’s bedroom and climbing on to her bed, which was under the window. His sister told the hearing at Wakefield Coroner’s Court she had to hold her mother back as she leaned out of the window so far, when she saw her son lying on the ground below.
The boy’s mother, Birikti Berihew, moved into the flat in 2010 and lived there with her adult daughter Ms Semere and two sons, the inquest was told. Exodus, who was 22 months old, was described as a healthy, sturdy toddler who was big for his age and could climb on to furniture.
The rotating window in Ms Semere's bedroom had a restrictor fitted to stop it from opening more than a few inches, but this was not engaged when Exodus fell to his death on July 2, 2022. Ms Berihew, said the restrictor was “very accessible to children to play with” and that she had asked Leeds City Council to fit a secondary cable to the window to stop her younger children opening it.
The block of flats where the family lived (Leeds Live/MEN Media)Her daughter told the inquest that even if the restrictor was on, the window would still swivel open “if you pushed it with any force”. Ms Semere told the hearing her brothers were not allowed in her bedroom because the only place for the bed was under the window, and that she would lock the room when she went out.
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On the day of Exodus’s death, Ms Semere left her bedroom at about 1pm, the inquest was told. She told the hearing she had opened the window “about six inches” the night before because it was hot – and had not closed it before leaving the room. Ms Semere said she went into the living room to hug her brothers before going to the kitchen to greet her mother.
She noticed Exodus was missing when she returned. Ms Berihew and Ms Semere searched the flat and went into Ms Semere’s unlocked room to find the window “more open than it had been”, the inquest was told.
Ms Semere said: “I just kept staring at it thinking, ‘Something’s off’. My mum came in my room. Her first instinct was to get on the bed and look out of the window.” Ms Semere, who was 19 at the time, said her mother leaned so far out of the window she “had to hold her back” and started screaming when she saw Exodus lying on the ground below. The child was pronounced dead at Leeds General Infirmary.
Police at the scene in Leeds (Lee McLean/SWNS)Speaking through a Tigrinya interpreter, Ms Berihew said she had asked the council “many times” to fit a more secure device on to the window, like one she had seen in a neighbour’s flat. The restrictor was very easily accessible for children. Any child can roll it,” she told the hearing.
“They have cars with rotating wheels. Any circular thing is tempting for them to play with. What I want to do is something more complex for children.”
The inquest was told Leeds City Council had a record of Ms Berihew raising concerns about windows once in November 2020, but she told the hearing she complained several more times in person. She agreed that the language barrier “may have been a problem” on those occasions.
Asked by senior coroner Kevin McLoughlin if she would disagree with an expert witness who said the restrictor was working satisfactorily, Ms Berihew said: “Yes because this is the house I lived in for 12 years and nobody else can tell me otherwise because I know it better.”
The family’s solicitors, Ison Harrison, said Ms Berihew was concerned about one of her children falling from the window after becoming aware of the death of six-year-old Liam Shackleton, who fell from the window of a neighbouring tower block at Lincoln Green in 2011.
The inquest continues.
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